Disasters

Is Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's call on constituents to get "armed and dangerous" over the climate bill something to be concerned about?

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a request to reopen a lawsuit that charged energy companies with contributing to the effects of Hurricane Katrina by emitting greenhouse gases."

The Tuesday recommendations of the presidential oil spill commission may include one that could help the offshore oil industry dodge tighter government safety regulation -- creation of a self-policing program like the one the chemical industry launched after Bhopal.

"A shutdown of the Trans Alaska Pipeline, which ships 12 percent of U.S. crude output, entered a third day on Monday, boosting prices and raising pressure on operators including BP to restore shipments."

"A food scandal in Germany deepened Friday, as regional authorities shut down more than 4,700 farms after tests showed animal feed had been contaminated by a chemical that can cause cancer."

"The presidential commission examining the causes of the BP oil spill Wednesday laid blame for the disaster on corporate mismanagement, inadequate government regulation and ultimately a lack of political will to ensure proper oversight of the oil industry as it pushed drilling rigs into ever deeper waters."

"Bacteria ate nearly all the potentially climate-warming methane that spewed from BP's broken wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico last year, scientists reported on Thursday."

"The errors and misjudgments that led to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling rig last spring weren't the result just of blunders by BP and its contractors, but reflect industry-wide problems that require new regulations and standards, a presidential commission has concluded."

"The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization announced this week that food prices hit a record high last month. Its Food Price Index was 214.7 for December, the highest level since the organization created the index to measure the price of a standard basket of goods in 1990."

"Federal mine safety regulators reached an 11th-hour settlement Wednesday with Massey Energy that ends what the Obama administration had touted as a landmark suit to shut down an underground coal mine that government inspectors said posed a continuing hazard to workers."